Apparatus foe



(No Model.) 1

- T. F. PROGTOR.

v APPARATUS P011 APPLYING; GOLOR TO WATCH DIALS. l

110;. 260,783. Patented July 1-1 1882.

I in 1 mm UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

THOMAS F. PROUTOR, OF'WALTHAM, MASSACHUSETTS.

APPARATUS FOR APPLY IN G COLOR TO WATCH-DIALS.

SPECIFICATION formingpart of Letters Patent No. 260,783, dated July 11, 1882.

Application filed June 8, 1882.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, THOMAS F. Pnooron, of Waltham, ,countyot' Middlesex, State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in Apparatus for Applying Color to Watch- Dials, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification.

My invention relates to an apparatus for applying color to the dials of watches and similar articles.

Heretofore in applying the color or marks upon the dials of watches, as in making the figures thereon, the entire surface, where a considerable body of color is to be applied, is provided with the desired pigment or coloring matter, a portion of which is afterward removed to leave only the desired portions of the dial colored. This operation of removing color, so as to give the colored portions the desired shape or appearance, has heretofore been done by hand, a suitable scraping-instrument being employed, which, in some instances, as in making the figures, is guided by a straight edge, the position of which is controlled by the operator.

My invention has for its object to provide a machine for removing the color, so as to enable the said operation to be practiced with greater precision and with far greater rapidity, and consequently at much less expense than when done by hand, as heretofore practiced.

The invention consists essentially in the combination, with the usual bed-plate for holding the watch-dial, ofa scraping-tool and means to guide it in certain definite relation to the said watch-dial, so that when moved by the hand of the operator or by other power it will remove the color from the surface of the dial in definite places, determined by the mechanical means employed for guiding the said tool.

As herein shown, a tool-actuating shaftadapted to be rotated by hand or other suitable power is mounted in a bracket adjustable with relation to the bed-plate and dial thereon,

and the said shaft is provided with arms carrying scraping-tools by which the color may (No model.)

I watch-dial, and having a scraping-tool rigidly connected with an arm thereon, the said scrapin g-tool will operate in a circle concentric with the dial, and by varying the position of the shaft and the length of the tool-carrying arm circular figures can be produced in any desired position on the dial. In some instances the tool-carrying arm is made movable in suitable guides transverse to the shaft, so that as it is rotated the tool may also have a movement radially toward and from the said'shaft, the said radial movement being controlled by a pattern-surface, so that the tool may be caused to move in any desired path around the dial, producing scallops, sinuous curves, ovals, or other more or less irregular shapes,'as may be desired. For making straight lines, as for the figures on the dial, the tool may be mounted in a carriage reciprocating in a suitable guide, the relative position of which and the dial may be varied as desired, the said carriage being reciprocated by a crank or eccentric or other suitable connection with the actuating-shaft to remove the color, as desired. In all these operations it will be seen' that the tool is mechanically held and guided in a fixed predetermined path, and the certainty of the operation does not depend in any degree upon the steadiness of the hand or the trueness of the vision of the operator, and that consequently the work can be done with much greater rapidity and greater perfection in result than has heretofore been attained; The tool will preferably be made so that it can be removed from engagement with the dial while moving over it, if desired, it being herein shown as raised from the surface of the dial by a spring and pressed down thereon by the hand of the operator, so that the pressure of the tool on the surface remains under control of the operator.

ceive and hold the dial or other article while being operated upon, and the spring a to retain the said block b in any desired angular position, so as to space off any desired are on the dial, may be substantially such as commonly employed for this purpose when the dial is to be operated upon by hand. The said bed-plate a is provided with a standard, 0, to receive a bracket, d, which'may be adjusted ooth vertically and angularlyin the said standard c and retained in adjusted position by setscrews 0. The said bracket 01 sustainsan arm, e, adjustable therein and held in any desired position by the set-screw f, the said arm being provided with a bearing, 9, for the tool-actuating shaft It, provided with a handle, 41, or pulley, or othermeans forimpartin g arotary movement thereto. The said shaft is free to move longitudinally in the said bearing, and is acted upon by a spring, i, which tends to keep the said shaft elevated in its bearing and to lift the tools carried byitfrom the face of the dial, the said shaft being pressed downward by the operator when desired to have the said tools act upon the dial.

The shaft h is shown in Fig. 1 as provided with one or more arms, j k, the former being adjustably connected therewith by the setscrew m and the latter being free to move transversely to the said shaft through a suitable passage or guide therein.

The arm j is provided with a socket, n, to receive a scraping-tool, 0, which, as the shaft h is rotated by the handle i, will describe a circle of greater or less diameter, according to the position of the armj in the shaft h.

The arm is provided with a tool-socket,1), adapted to receive a similar scraping-tool, 0, the shank of the said tool being provided with a roller, 1", which, by engaging with a patternsurface, 8, connected with the bed-plate by a set-screw, it, will guide the tool carried by it in a path corresponding with the said patternsurface, the said roller being pressed against the pattern-surface by the spring a. By removing one pattern-surface and replacing it by another it will be seen that the tool 0, carried by the arm k, can be made to describe any desired path around the dial, and by fixing the said arm 7; by means of the set-screw k the said tool may be made to describe circlessimilar to the one described by the tool 0, carried by the arm j, and that by employingboth tools circles and other curves can be made simultaneously, the said circles and curves being concentric with the dial or otherwise, according to the position in which the shaft h is set by adjusting its arm 6 and bracket d. The setscrew 70 will of course be loosened when the arm 70 is used in connection with the patternsurface.

The shaft h is provided with a pointer, h, to enable it to be centered over any desired point.

When desired to describe straightlines the tool 0 Figs. 3 and 4, is mounted in a' toolsocket, a, mounted upon a carriage, 11 made to reciprocate in guides 1' upon the guideplate 8, that may be fixed in any desired position relative to the dial and bed-plate by means of the set-screw. The said carriage p is connected by a link, M, with a suitable eccentric or crank-pin, 10 actuated by the shaft It, so that as said shaft is rotated the carriage p and tool carried by it are reciprocated in a straight path, the length of which is determined by the eccentricity of the crank or eccentric w which is shown as a wire carried by the adjustable arm j, the said wire being bent, as shown, to enable it to be brought nearer the center of the shaft.

The tool-socket n is made longitudinally movable in the carriage 10 and is normally pressed upward by the spring i so that the tool does not act except when pressed down by the operator, when its pressure on the sur face being scraped will be regulated by the sense of feeling of the operator, as heretofore, although its movement will not be guided by hand nor dependent on the hand and eye of 9a the operator for its accuracy.

It is obvious that the operation would be the same if the shaft It were held stationary and the dial and pattern-surface revolved together upon the block b, to which the said pattern-surface would be fixed, and in some particular instances this construction may be preferred.

In the present apparatus all the parts are shown as adjustable, the single machine being adapted to do several kinds of work; but in large factories, where numerous dials are to be madeas nearly alike as possible, difi'erent machines will be used for difi'erent sizes and for different portions of the work, each being constructed or permanently adjusted for only the especial work it has to perform.

I claim- 1. In a machine for coloring watch-dials and similar articles, the combination of the following elements, namely: a bed-plate to sustain the article being operated upon, and mecham ism to hold a color or pigment scraping tool and guide it in a definite path over the said article, substantially as described.

2. The bed-plate, standard, and tool-actuating shaft mounted thereon, combined with the scraping-tool connected with the said shaft, as and for the purpose described.

3. The bed-plate and tool-carrying shaft movable toward and from the said bed-plate, combined with the spring by which the said shaft is normallyretained in the position most remote from the said bed-plate, substantially as described.

4. The bed-plate, tool-actuating shaft, and tool-carrying arm movable radially relative to the said shaft, combined with the pattern-surface by which the said radial movement is governed, substantially as described.

IIO

5. The combination of the bed-plate and. In testimony whereofI have signed my name scraping-tool and mechanism to move it in a to this specification in the presence of two subdefinite path over the said bed-plate, the said. scribing witnesses. tool being also movable toward and from the 5 surface being acted upon, whereby its press- THOMAS'E- PBOGTOR.

ure on the said surface is governed by the op- 'erator, substantially as described. A Witnesses:

6. The combination of the bed-plate, recip- J 05. P. LIVERMORE, rocatin g tool-carriage, and. actuating -shaft BERNICE J. NOYES.

.10 therefor, substantially as described. 

